A History of the Witches of Renfrewshire

Who Were Burned on the Gallowgreen of Paisley

John Millar

• Editorial: Left of Brain Books
• Año: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781396319983
• Categoría: Histoire
• Categoría: Histoire de l'Écosse

Do witches exist?That was not a question in the 16th century. It was a statement with an answer as certain as the rising of a new day or the setting of the sun. Back then, being tried for witchcraft was as normal as being tried for breaking and entering. There are many stories of witch trials, from the Basque witch trials to the Salem witch trials, but the trial of the witches of Renfrewshire are another story.This one talks about the bewitching of Sir George Maxwell, a knight, and 11-year-old Christian Shaw after she reported a family servant for stealing a drink of milk. Both bewitchings lead to a trial, but Shaw's is memorable for reasons that will leave you aghast.In the pages of this book, you will find actual accounts from the witch accusers insisting that they had been bewitched and confessions from these witches some insist were born from fear and desperation. One thing's for sure, when you are done reading you will be horrified. Either by the trials or because, just maybe, witches do exist.

Appendix.

By David Semple, F. S. A.

THE names of the persons accused, convicted, and afterwards “worrit” and burnt for the crime of witchcraft on the Gallowgreen of Paisley on 10th June, 1697, are not very distinctly stated. Three men and four women were convicted, and two of these men and the four women were executed, and the other man committed suicide in Renfrew Prison on 21st May previously. The greater number of the names mentioned in the foregoing pages will be found in the Poll Tax Rolls for Renfrewshire for the year 1695,⁸⁰ which corroborate and confirm the authenticity of both records. The names of the seven convicted persons would seem from the foregoing history to have been,—1st, John Lindsay; 2nd, James Lindsay; 3rd, John Reid; 4th, Catherine Campbell; 5th, Margaret Lang; 6th, Margaret Fulton, Dumbarton; and, 7th, Agnes Naismith. From the Poll Tax Rolls it would appear that John Lindsay was, a cottar in Barloch of Bargarren; James Lindsay a cottar in Billboe, in Orbistoune’s lands of Erskine; Margaret Lang, the wife of William Semple, cottar in Cartympen, also in Orbistoune’s lands, all in the parish of Erskine; John Reid was a smith in the Laird of Hapland’s lands, in the parish of Inchinnan; Catherine Campbell, Margaret Fulton, and Agnes Naismith are not to be found in these Rolls, from the first probably having become a servant to the Laird of Bargarren at Whitsunday 1696, the second being resident in Dumbarton, and the third perhaps in the parish of Kilpatrick, on the opposite side of the River Clyde from Bargarren. A few excerpts from these authentic Poll Rolls made up a year before the trial are here given to show the status of the persons who were brought before the Commission for a crime that really could not have any existence.

ERSKINE PARISH.

John Shaw and Christian Shaw, see reference page; Jean Shaw, see reference page.

Poll Tax Rolls, page 99.

^* Christian Shaw. The impostor of Bargarran, who pretended she was bewitched, and made credulous ministers believe her rhapsodies.

John Lindsay, see reference page.

Poll Tax Rolls, page 99.

^† John Lindsay, a cottar on the lands of Bargarran, who must have been seen every other day by Christian Shaw.

Pinched Maggy, see reference page; Margaret L———, see reference page: Margt. Lang, see reference page; Martha Semple, see reference page.

Poll Tax Rolls, page 103.

^‡ Margaret Lang was the spouse of a cottar in Cartympen, which was situated a little to the south of the present parochial school of Erskine, and on the north side of the new road leading to Greenock. She was a midwife, an intelligent woman, endowed with abilities at least equa...